Tag Archives: chocolate

I have several recipes for vegan brownies I use when I have a chocolate craving, but I found this one in Sauce Magazine. The recipe comes from Beth Styles, who is not even vegan, but her brownies are awesome! I made a couple of minor changes, which I’ll share with you at the end.

Ingredients

3/4 cup applesauce

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz. dairy-free chocolate chips, separated into 7 oz. and 1 oz.

8 Tbsp Earth Balance

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8×8 inch square pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the applesauce, sugar, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Set aside.

Melt 7 oz. of chocolate chips along with the Earth Balance in a small saucepan over low heat, being careful not to burn. When it’s completely melted, whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth and remove from heat.

Whisk the chocolate mixture into the ingredients you already combined. With a spoon, stir in the flour until just combined (don’t over-stir or it will become cakey when it bakes), and then stir in the remaining ounce of chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture into the pan, smoothing out the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes on the middle rack.

My Slight Changes: I used raw turbinado sugar instead of granulated white sugar, which does give the brownies a unique taste, but it’s healthier and I like the flavor enhancement it brings. I also stirred in 1 ounce of dark chocolate chunks instead of regular semi-sweet chocolate chips (although I did use regular chocolate chips for the other 8 oz.). My variations really didn’t change the final product much, but my husband and I truly enjoyed these brownies. They are very moist and gooey. Just how a brownie should be! I made these in honor of my husband’s first day at his new job today!!

Craving something sweet but don’t have a lot of time or just don’t want to bake something that will have leftovers to tempt you in the fridge? I don’t know where we came up with this or why we started making it, but my sister and I used to make something we called “chocolate goo” when we were kids. I still make it to this day when my sweet tooth starts to ache. Below I’ve posted the original version and the “healthier” version.

Original

Put ingredients in a bowl in this order: 1/4 cup oats, 1 heaping Tbsp peanut butter, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp Earth Balance, small handful vegan chocolate chips (I’ll the leave the amount to your discretion). Do not stir the ingredients together; just place them in a bowl in that order and then put it in the microwave for 45 seconds. Remove from the microwave, stir, and enjoy!

Healthier Version

The directions are the same as for the original recipe, but the ingredients are just slightly different: 1/4 cup oats, 1 heaping Tbsp of peanut butter, 1 Tbsp raw turbinado sugar, 1 tsp coconut oil, small handful vegan chocolate chips.

As you can see from the pictures, the consistency of the goo varies depending on which recipe you use, so that may be something to take into consideration when deciding which one you want to try. Also, the “healthier” version does have a slightly different taste because of the coconut oil. You may like that or you may not. It’s all up to your preference, but I personally like both, and I’m telling you–this simple recipe is perfect for a quick chocolate fix.

I also wanted to let you know that if you read my last post about the homemade sunscreen and are wondering how it turned out, we ended up not going to the lake after all, so I haven’t made the sunscreen yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I do!